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Business Employment Dynamics in Alaska – Fourth Quarter 2018

From September 2018 to December 2018, gross job gains from opening and expanding private-sector establishments in Alaska totaled 26,655, while gross job losses from closing and contracting private-sector establishments numbered 23,854, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Richard Holden, the Bureau’s Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations, noted the difference between the number of gross job gains and the number of gross job losses yielded a net employment gain of 2,801. During the previous quarter, gross job losses exceeded gross job gains by 4,231.

The change in the number of jobs over time is the net result of increases and decreases in employment that occur at all businesses in the economy. Business Employment Dynamics (BED) statistics track these changes in employment at private business establishments from the third month of one quarter to the third month of the next. The difference between the number of gross job gains and the number of gross job losses is the net change in employment. (See the Technical Note for more information.)

Alaska’s number of gross job gains increased by 4,833 during the fourth quarter of 2018, following a decline of 5,135 in the previous quarter. Gross job losses fell by 2,199 in the fourth quarter of 2018, after decreasing by 274 in the previous quarter. The net gain of 2,801 jobs in the fourth quarter of 2018 was the largest gain since the first quarter of 2013. (See chart 1.)

During the fourth quarter of 2018, gross job gains exceeded gross job losses in four industry sectors in Alaska. For example, within construction, gross job gains exceeded gross job losses by 923. While 3,538 jobs were gained in opening and expanding establishments in the industry, 2,615 jobs were lost by closing and contracting establishments in the fourth quarter of 2018. In education and health services, 2,264 jobs were created in opening and expanding establishments, while 1,689 jobs were lost in closing and contracting establishments. (See table 1.)

Additional statistics and other information

BED data for the states have been included in table 2 of this release. For more information on the Business Employment Dynamics data, visit the BED web site at www.bls.gov/bdm/.

The Business Employment Dynamics for the First Quarter 2019 are scheduled to be released on Wednesday, October 30, 2019.

Technical Note

The Business Employment Dynamics (BED) data are a product of a federal-state cooperative program known as Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW), or the ES-202 program. The BED data are compiled by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) from existing QCEW records. Most employers in the U.S. are required to file quarterly reports on the employment and wages of workers covered by unemployment insurance (UI) laws, and to pay quarterly UI taxes. The QCEW is based largely on quarterly UI reports which are sent by businesses to the State Workforce Agencies (SWAs). These UI reports are supplemented by two additional BLS data collections to render administrative data into economic statistics. Together these data comprise the QCEW and form the basis of the Bureau’s establishment universe sampling frame.

In the BED program, the quarterly QCEW records are linked across quarters to provide a longitudinal history for each establishment. The linkage process allows the tracking of net employment changes at the establishment level, which in turn allows the estimation of jobs gained at opening and expanding establishments and jobs lost at closing and contracting establishments.

The change in the number of jobs over time is the net result of increases and decreases in employment that occur at all businesses in the economy. BED statistics track these changes in employment at private business establishments from the third month of one quarter to the third month of the next. Gross job gains are the sum of increases in employment from expansions at existing establishments and the addition of new jobs at opening establishments. Gross job losses are the result of contractions in employment at existing establishments and the loss of jobs at closing establishments. The difference between the number of gross jobs gained and the number of gross jobs lost is the net change in employment.

Gross job gains and gross job losses are expressed as rates by dividing their levels by the average of employment in the current and previous quarters. The rates are calculated for the components of gross job gains and gross job losses and then summed to form their respective totals. These rates can be added and subtracted just as their levels can. For instance, the difference between the gross job gains rate and the gross job losses rate is the net growth rate.

The formal definitions of employment changes are as follows:

Openings. These are either establishments with positive third month employment for the first time in the current quarter, with no links to the prior quarter, or with positive third month employment in the current quarter following zero employment in the previous quarter.

Expansions. These are establishments with positive employment in the third month in both the previous and current quarters, with a net increase in employment over this period.

Closings. These are either establishments with positive third month employment in the previous quarter, with no employment or zero employment reported in the current quarter.

Contractions. These are establishments with positive employment in the third month in both the previous and current quarters, with a net decrease in employment over this period.

Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request: voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Federal Relay Service: (800) 877-8339.

Footnotes:​(1) Includes unclassified sector not shown separately.​(2) The net employment change is the difference between total gross job gains and total gross job losses. See the Technical Note for further information.​(3) Except public administration.